Ukraine's Naftogaz to seek arrest of Russian gas in Europe as part of Gazprom’s debt collection

Tuesday, March 13, 2018 8:08:35 PM

Naftogaz of Ukraine will not remove gas from transit to Europe as part of Gazprom's debt collection, but intends to seek the seizure of this gas once it reaches European markets, as posted by the Chief Commercial Officer of Naftogaz of Ukraine, Yuriy Vitrenko on Facebook.

"Experts" who get money from Gazprom, twist my words and report that we will impose penalties on gas belonging to Gazprom, in case Gazprom comply with the Stockholm Arbitration's decision and will not pay $2.5 billion. Let me explain: in this case, we will impose penalties on gas belonging to Gazprom in European countries, not in Ukraine," he noted.

"If Gazprom voluntarily fails to carry out the Stockholm Arbitration's decision, we will appeal to the courts in European countries that have ratified the international convention for the enforcement of the arbitration decision. Therefore, we are not going to take gas from the transit flows to Europe. It is better for us to impose penalties on gas after it reaches the European markets – it is a more effective way to get the money that Gazprom should pay in accordance with the decision of the international arbitration, and at the same time to show Europe that Ukraine is a reliable transiter and Gazprom is an unreliable gas supplier," he added.

On February 28th, the Stockholm Arbitration Chamber of Commerce partially satisfied the requirements of Naftogaz in a dispute with Gazprom and decided that the Russian holding should reimburse the Ukrainian company $4.63 billion for the non-delivery of gas under their transit agreement (the Court recognized that the Russian company had provided gas for transit to Europe at a lesser amount than was stipulated in the agreement). However, taking into account Naftogaz’s debt for delivered gas, Gazprom will have to pay $2.56 billion.